22:20
by whitecarousel
Summary: Cassidy Delivre just wanted to get the hell out of Mystic Falls. Kai Parker had other plans.


The Mystic Grille was lit dimly by the overhead lights. Daylight peaked through its windows, illuminating the dust particles in the air. It was empty, desolate, much like the town since I had come here several months ago. If it was up to me, I would've been out of there the very night I arrived. Back home, far away from this poisonous blip of existence. But as some unfortunate circumstances would have it, I had been forced to stay a little while longer. _No one ever leaves Mystic Falls_.

It's one thing to question how I came to be there in the town. That is relatively simple and can be answered with a few short, yet sardonic anecdotes. However, the latter question, the one not so easy to answer is how I came to be there, standing before this _sociopathic man-child_ negotiating a business deal.

"Look, a month ago, I didn't even know vampires and werewolves existed," I rounded in on him, my arms defensively waving about. "Now you want me to locate every last **witch** on the face of this Earth, so you can kill them for their magic!"

"Well, I don't **_have_** to kill them," Kai offered.

"That's not the point," I replied. "Anyway, I thought since merging with Luke, you've rediscovered your humanity? Won't you feel, like, remorse for killing a bunch of harmless sage-wielding feminists?"

He took a swig from his glass of bourbon and placed it down on the bar, displeasure evident from his pursed lips. Though, I was unsure if his displeasure had less to do with me and more to do with his drink. _Jim Beam Single Barrel, not the smartest choice for a boy from the not-so-manly Zima era._

"Look, Cass," he began. "I **can** call you Cass, right?"

"No."

"Cass, there is something you need to understand about me," he continued, coming to stand directly behind me, breath blowing softly on my left shoulder. He moved his face much closer to mine than I had anticipated. "I am a witch **and** a vampire, now. Which pretty much means that I am all-powerful and can do whatever I want, whenever I want."

"Is that supposed to make me want to help you?" I questioned. "Because you're a witchpire now, and instead of just boiling my blood with your mind, you want to drink it now, too?"

"In addition to guilt and sadness, you might want to read up a little bit on persuasion in your _How to Be Human_ handguide."

I knew before I even opened my mouth that I should have just given in to him without complaint. On one end of this proverbial wrestling ring was Kai, a relentless, manipulative, omnipotent superbeing. On the other end, myself, a not-so-super being. No discernible supernatural skills whatsoever. Just a nerd and her laptop. This nerd was about to get her ass Stone Cold Stunner'd right off the top rope.

"Well, aren't you brave?" He mused, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger. "Do you think you would be like this if I didn't have any use for you?"

"I think we never would've met at all," I said.

That was the God's honest truth. If Ezra never dragged me south, never gotten himself involved with vampires and hybrids, I wouldn't have ended up in this situation. Granted, it would've been a somewhat meaningless post-college existence, chalk full of minimum wage and chinese takeout, but at least I would be out of danger, alive. _My brother would still be alive_.

Kai made his way over to the pool table. He grabbed the rack from the slot underneath to line up the balls. He pulled two cues down from the wall and two cubes of chalk from a cup nearby. I watched with disbelief. _Does this nutjob seriously want me to play a game of pool with him?_

"You and I, this," Kai gestured between us with his cue. "This is fate. I knew you would agree to help me!"

"I didn't agree to help you," I argued. "You **kidnapped** me!"

"Toe-may-toe, Ta-maw-toe."

I grabbed the other pool cue out of his hand.

"Don't you think you would be better off doing this by yourself?" I reasoned. "I don't have magic. But you, you can do a locator spell, then vamp-zoom across the country to snap their necks and be back before sunset to watch _Wheel of Fortune_ reruns."

I just couldn't understand quite what he wanted with me. If he wanted license plates numbers and credit scores, sure, I could do that. But trying to snuff out a bunch of cauldron-stirring hippies is not a feat best conquered with the internet. Besides, he didn't need anyone else's magic, right? Through merging, Kai assumed the role as leader of the Gemini Coven, therefore allowing him to keep his magic and strengthening him in the process. So what did he want with **me**?

The more I thought about Kai, the more I could feel my resolve weakening. He was ostracized his entire life by his own family. The people that were supposed to love him unconditonally casted him aside like a leper. They lit a spark in him that made him go mad, made him kill. Then, they turned around and banished him to his own personal hell for a couple of decades. Maybe he could've been saved. _Maybe he could still be saved_.

I shook myself from my puzzling thoughts. Kai was watching me in that way that Kai does. His usual childlike over-excitement now amplified tenfold by his newfound vampirism. The ends of his smile reached both ears and there was a light in his eyes. "You **will** help me," this light said. He lined up his first shot of our game. Hovering over the green felt table, his mouth repeated the words I saw in his eyes.

"Yeah," I sighed out, reluctantly. "I will."

His cue surged forward, hitting the white ball with confidence. I reached up to to chalk the end of my pool stick, preparing myself for utter failure, both at this game of pool and this 'game' with Kai.

"Great," he said with enthusiasm. "You won't regret it!"

 _Plunk_. The witchpire sunk the 8-ball on his first shot. I looked down at the blue chalk in my hands and swallowed thickly. A wave of nausea bubbled in my stomach.

 _You wont regret it_.

Thank you all so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you think. Or feel free to pick my brain if you have any questions! Also, in regards to a little folklore/urban legend knowledge about the game of Billiards (Pool), can anyone tell me why our heroine Cassidy would feel sick at the sight of the blue chalk in her hands while she watched Kai take his shot at the pool table? Until next time...

-whitecarousel


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